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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27050563">Little Red Rider</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GirlKnownSomewhere/pseuds/GirlKnownSomewhere'>GirlKnownSomewhere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Monkees (Band), The Monkees (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>1960s, Band Fic, Crushes, Cute, Drinking, F/M, Ficlet, Flirting, Halloween, Holidays, One Shot, Partying, Underage Drinking, sequel of sorts~</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:03:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,626</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27050563</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GirlKnownSomewhere/pseuds/GirlKnownSomewhere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike and Jan have a nice little moment in the middle of Bert Schneider's exciting costume party.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mike Nesmith/Jan Freeman, Mike Nesmith/Phyllis Nesmith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Little Red Rider</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So this is the unexpected follow-up to my previous Halloween one-shot from last year, 'Dream World,' which you don't necessarily have to read to enjoy the new addition, as usual. But you'll probably get the most out of both ficlets if you read them together since they both take place at the same party and LRR does make some references to DW. Happy reading and happy Halloween season! 🎃🍂</p><p>Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Monkees' brand or Jan's and Phyllis' likenesses.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>One-shot: Little Red Rider</p><p>Bel Air, October 1966</p><p>Jan knew when she signed up for extra work on TV sets almost a year ago that the jobs would no doubt be fun. But she wasn’t expecting one of the perks was being invited to celebrity house parties. Granted, “The Monkees” was her favorite show to work on and the production team was pretty lax with each other. But she was still a little surprised Bert Schneider would invite stand-ins and press correspondents to his costume party, even if the invitation was generally inclusive. Besides being excited to see her set pals and some hip stars, Jan was going to have a fun excuse to dress up creatively. She wanted something more than the usual cute or pretty holiday costumes the other girls were going to be wearing, yet also still flattering. But she mostly wanted an excuse to wear pants or at least a longer skirt. </p><p>She spent a couple of days pondering her costume options until Jan happened to catch a photo of French movie star Jeanne Moreau on a billboard as promo for her new movie <b>Mademoiselle</b>. Suddenly a lightbulb went off in Jan’s head and reminded her of one of Jeanne’s more popular films in the US: <b>Jules &amp; Jim</b>. She had caught the movie with friends at Grauman’s back when she was still in school, and one of the actress’ outfits during a famous scene would be perfect. In a sequence where Jeanne and the two male leads run across a Paris bridge, the former wears men’s clothes consisting of brown loafers, black pants, a thick grey, wool sweater, her hair tucked into a plaid, newsboy style cap and a fake mustache drawn on her upper lip. </p><p>The costume was unique and saved Jan some money to boot. After using an eyebrow pencil to draw the mustache below her nose, she got a ride with Micky, Roxanne and Valerie to the party that weekend. The four spent the first thirty-five minutes of the outing hanging around each other, with Valerie dressed as a Bond girl and Roxanne as Gidget. The latter amused Jan since the blonde chose not to go as the Jane to Micky’s Tarzan. Once the friends went their separate ways to fraternize with other party-goers, Jan used the moment as an excuse to do some people watching in the dining room corner. She recognized a couple of guys from the Raiders and the Association drop by, and even some of the extras and crew members from other shows on the ScreenGems lot were socializing at the house too. Jan then quickly discovered the open bar wasn’t completely open, with Bert telling the bartender not to serve anyone under 21 just to be safe since one of the clubs in town was caught serving minors last summer. Though she noticed Davy did get away with taking a beer, which got Ann Moses from Tiger Beat attempting to argue with the showrunner to let her have an alcoholic beverage too. Jan herself didn’t mind the strictness currently, as she wasn’t feeling like getting tipsy so soon anyway. Plus someone she wasn’t familiar with offered her an iced tea he claimed he was making for guests, so she accepted the glass in appreciation. Only to grimace after testing the drink because it clearly didn’t taste like any iced tea she’d ever drank before.</p><p>Not long after the incident, Jan found Mike and Phyllis Nesmith walking through the party. The couple were donned in matching western movie costumes, which wasn’t surprising considering Mike’s interests. Jan’s heart skipped a beat instantly, and she tried to stay calm and natural. Only a week ago she and Mike had gotten to know each other while posing for a photoshoot and him driving her home at the end of the day. Since then the two had been chatting like friendly colleagues on the set, much to the young girl’s growing infatuation. Jan straightened her posture once she noticed Mike begin walking in her direction after what looked like an argument with Ann by the mini-bar. She found that peculiar in itself. The set crew and the press reporters for the group didn’t particularly mingle that much, but Jan didn’t see anything wrong with Ann as a person from the limited knowledge she did know about her. She even found her costume tonight of Cinderella pre-ball rather clever. And Mike, well, of course he was perfect.</p><p>The actor-musician paused mid-walk when he recognized Jan near him. “Hey, Liz!” He exclaimed his irreverent nickname for her with a grin and his mood instantly switching to upbeat. “Jan from Venice,” he added with her real identity.</p><p>“Hi, Mike,” she replied exuberantly with a big smile.</p><p>He walked a few more steps before suddenly stopping and slowly raised his hand to point at her. He appeared in thought, making Jan wonder what he could be on his mind while looking at her.</p><p>“It’s going to kill me not knowing what this get-up is…” He stated rhetorically, which made her realize he was trying to figure out her costume. </p><p>“Oh, I’m supposed to be Jeanne Moreau’s character in <b>Jules &amp; Jim</b>,” she explained and suddenly pondered if her outfit might be too pretentious.</p><p>“Ah. I think I missed that one,” he replied while taking an extra step forward.</p><p>“It came out a few years ago. I just happened to see it with some friends,” she informed.</p><p>He nodded and took a swig from a beer bottle she just now noticed he was holding. “I like your costume a lot too,” Jan continued referring to his cowboy outfit. “Are you supposed to be John Wayne?”</p><p>“Jimmy Stewart.”</p><p>“Oh, neat,” she said with her own nod. “I didn’t know he made westerns.”</p><p>“They’re pretty good,” Mike claimed. “You might be able to catch one at the drive-in behind Paramount.”</p><p>She nodded again and grabbed her glass, momentarily forgetting she didn’t like the liquid inside it and took a gulp. Her disgusted reaction immediately grabbed Mike’s attention. </p><p>“Uh oh. That’s usually not what the bartender wants to see from the customer.”</p><p>She cleared her throat as an attempt to get rid of the aftertaste. “Oh, this isn’t from the bar. Some guy walking around the party gave it to me and said it was an iced tea. But it doesn’t taste anything like iced tea to me…”</p><p>His brow crinkled at the statement and he gingerly took the beverage from her without asking. She let go once he had a hold of it, and he placed his beer on the dining room table next to them. Mike then took a sip of the new drink. His reaction wasn’t as extreme as hers, though it looked like he got an answer to his own question. “You’re right. It’s just booze.”</p><p>Her mouth parted slightly in surprise. “Really?”</p><p>“Yep,” he repeated and set the glass down on the table. </p><p>“Well…guess that shows how much I drink.”</p><p>He shrugged nonchalantly. “You’re young. No need to think about liquor just yet.”</p><p>“Oh, I’ve drank before,” Jan clarified. “But it’s usually just…wine,” she revealed feeling a little foolish.</p><p>“Nothing wrong with that,” he assured calmly again. “There is a real drink called a ‘Long Island iced tea.’ That’s basically what’s in your glass.”</p><p>“Wait, there really is iced tea in that drink?” She asked still somewhat perplexed.</p><p>“Not really. It’s just the name. It’s more like a cocktail,” Mike answered.</p><p>Jan’s mind suddenly started connecting the dots. “…Was I just roofied?”</p><p>“Well, no. Not exactly. I think he was hoping if you didn’t know what the drink was you’d get drunk. Not a very bright idea evidently,” he added at the end bluntly. </p><p>Jan’s heart sank. The last thing she wanted to feel tonight was naïve. “I’m so embarrassed I fell for that…”</p><p>Mike placed his hand on her shoulder supportively, which just got her heart to beat faster again. “You should be fine. Stick with Val and Roxi for the rest of the night if it makes you feel more comfortable.” </p><p>It took a couple of seconds for her to reply as she was distracted by the fact that he was currently touching her. “Okay…thanks.”</p><p>Just then Phyllis reappeared in front of them. “Michael, let’s dance,” she excitedly requested as she gripped the arm that was holding Jan, with the latter seemingly oblivious to the wife.</p><p>“It’s not a slow song right now,” he pointed out reluctantly, making Jan remember he generally wasn’t a big dancer.</p><p>“Aw, Mike, come on,” she whined playfully with an exaggerated pout.</p><p>The blonde’s presence broke Jan out of her brief fangirly state and rapidly reminded her of how her little crush on Mike would never be something more. Not that she was expecting anything serious anyway, but it was a bummer to know directly there was no possibility of the feelings being mutual and they would have to stick to just being friends. But it was better than the alternative, which was not being friends at all. </p><p>Mike eventually willingly let Phyllis drag him to the living room where the dancing was happening. Jan turned around to find her girl friends again through a second exit on the opposite end of the dining room, underwhelmed with how her conversation with Mike ended. </p><p>“By the way.”</p><p>She heard his voice again right as she was one foot out of the room, and quickly turned back around.</p><p>“I do dig your artsy costume. Though I think I prefer you without the ‘stache,” he ended with a subtle wink before stepping back toward the living room. Jan’s stomach flipped at the compliment while she wished there wasn’t a curly line drawn on her upper lip.</p>
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